Hand held stringed instrument, such as the guitar, banjo and mandolin, are commonly put in a case in order to transport the instrument while providing protection from rain, moderate weather changes and damage. Whenever the stringed instrument moves from transit to utilization the events are often difficult. A place must be found to either lay the instrument down or to lean it up against. Then a place must be found for the case while the instrument is played. When the stringed instrument is returned to its case, a leaning point or laying place must be found. In this regard, the prior art has generally utilized an instrument stand, such as a guitar stand. These are generally bent metal structures with foam coverings and for the most part are not even adequate, as the instrument is often easily knocked over.
Existing hand held stringed instrument cases include, at the low end of the line, a guitar bag. This is a vinyl bag with a cotton flannel backing. The instrument or guitar slips into the case neck first and closes by a zipper. It will easily be seen that the instrument bag provides minimum protection for the instrument contained therein. Exemplary of patents showing a soft bag-type case for hand held stringed instruments is U.S. Pat. No. 671,567, in the name of A. Shaeffer, showing a mandolin case having a wire frame and covered with cloth.
Another type of prior art case is the laminated chip board case with a vinyl covering. This offers a lot more protection and wear that does the instrument bag. Exemplary of an early type of instrument case similar to the laminated chip board case with a vinyl covering is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 306,731, in the name of A. C. Fairbanks, which discloses a case for banjos and other instruments having a flexible leather exterior.
Superior prior art cases are either the hard shell cases, made from wood veneer with a top quality vinyl coating and a heavily padded and plush velour interior lining, and plastic molded cases, which are also plush lined, and, like the hard shell cases, offer high protection and long life.
Even though the prior art hand held, stringed instrument cases have proven successful in a number of ways, they have many shortcomings. For example, they do not provide easy access to the instrument contained therein without laying the case down or leaning it against something, and they do not provide a stand for easy removal and replacement of the instrument.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,637,070, in the name of Perry L. Friedman, is an example of prior art patents disclosing a combination carrying case and stand for a belled musical instrument, such as a trumpet. This case not only protects the instrument while it is carried, but also provides a stand for the instrument when in use. However, a suitable combination case and stand has not been developed for hand held stringed instruments which is simple in design, adaptable to all types of case manufacturing materials, such as soft shell, hard shell and plastic molded, and fits many types of sizes and shaped hand held stringed instruments in one size and shape case.